Vernon Locke
Vernon Locke is a supporting character, contractor and current mission co-ordinator in PAYDAY 2, debuting on December 3, 2015 with the release of the Point Break Heists. Background Description Born in South Africa, educated at Lincoln Laboratory, trained under MI5, and now employed by Murkywater. Vernon Locke heads their special cyberwarfare division, which has been tasked with infiltrating and destroying Crime.net. Locke has managed this. However, being a mercenary with no loyalties that extra money couldn't bend, Locke sees this as an opportunity. An opportunity to get rich, and cause a little chaos. He has reached out to Bain and the Payday gang. The deal? Work with him, or he brings Crime.net down forever. And he already has a couple of jobs for you... The FBI Files Vernon Locke, of South-African nationality as evident by his accent, has long been an employee and operative with mercenary organisation Murkywater. Even with the borderline grey-area reputation of that organization, surveillance and underground chatter has long been hailing Locke as something more than a soldier-for-hire. Perhaps he is some kind of double agent, aiming for something bigger. Most recently he has been sighted seemingly on his own, not working under the Murkywater umbrella, but perhaps involved with Bain and the Payday gang. Some intelligence operatives have also been following up on connections between Locke and “The Butcher”, though again- the exact nature of said connection remains a mystery at present. Contracts *Beneath the Mountain *Birth of Sky *Alaskan Deal *Brooklyn Bank *Breakin' Feds *Henry's Rock *Shacklethorne Auction *Hell's Island *The White House *Border Crossing *Border Crystals Locke is also heavily involved in the [[Heat Street (Payday 2)|Heat Street PAYDAY 2 remake]] and is the substitute contractor in Day 2 (first day of the heist, gameplay wise) in the Reservoir Dogs Heist. Achievements (Payday 2) }} Trivia *Locke is one of the two contractors to directly assist the crew during a heist, the second being Jimmy. He is also the second of four contractors to appear in a heist in person, the first being Hector, the third being Jimmy and the fourth being Bain. Finally, he is the third contractor to instruct players directly throughout his heists, preceded by Bain and Vlad. Unlike Vlad, who simply gives instructions alongside Bain in every contract after and including Meltdown, Locke instructs the crew alone throughout the entirety of the Beneath the Mountain heist, with Bain only coming in after the heist is finished. **While also on this note, Locke is the first contractor to outright "betray" the Payday gang in a mission contracted by his name, unlike Hector and The Dentist, whose treacherous intentions were only found out later on as part of another plotline. **In the Reservoir Dogs Heist Day 2, Brooklyn Bank, Breakin' Feds, Henry's Rock, Hell's Island, Shacklethorne Auction, The White House, Border Crossing and Border Crystals heists, Locke is the one giving instructions, fully replacing Bain. *Vernon Locke for a long time lacked an entry in the FBI Files' Clown Case folder, possibly due to his affiliation with Murkywater. He has seemingly avoided suspicion by the authorities (and Murkywater) up until Alaskan Deal, where police noticed him fleeing the scene. He has since received an entry and has been referenced in Garrett's internal memos. In Brooklyn Bank, Locke reveals Murkywater has eventually obtained knowledge of his treachery and "closed all their communication channels" with him. *Locke can purportedly bring down Crime.net at the simple push of a button. **With his "betrayal" in Alaskan Deal, it remains uncertain if his threat to take down Crime.net is a bluff or not. However, with him being revealed to be on the PAYDAY Gang's side in the Reservoir Dogs Heist, it's unlikely the button exists and even then he wouldn't have used it, especially since he appears to be working independently from Murkywater. This is supported in the FBI Files where Locke has been profiled by Solomon Garrett and is theorized by him to be working separately. **As Dallas mentioned in the Secret Ending video, Locke could had abandoned the crew especially when "things got rough with the Kataru" but stuck with them in the end, therefore proving his loyality. *Like The Butcher, Vernon Locke was introduced into PAYDAY 2 with a pair of heists packed into a single DLC as a collaborative effort between Overkill Software and another company. *Locke appears to be skilled in the field of aviation, as he provides aerial support to lift the money pallets in Birth of Sky, and pilots the escape helicopters in Beneath the Mountain and The White House heist. *Despite Locke being South African, his accent is not that of a native African speaker owing to actor Ian Russel being British. Rather, his accent sounds more similar to the New Zealand Maoris. *He tends to curse quite often, more than the most of the other contractors. **He also has the tendency to change how he speaks to the heisters during Birth of Sky, being friendly and calm in one moment, but getting more aggressive if they don't complete certain objectives. **Since the Reservoir Dogs Heist, however, he is much more patient and swears less often at the crew, due to Bain being missing, the situation becoming more serious, and the fact that he seems to genuinely respect the Payday Gang. *It is hinted Locke has the same monitoring privileges as Bain, as Locke is able to recognize very specific details despite not being present with the crew. Some examples include him leaving remarks on the death of the logistics officer and the diner keycard in Birth of Sky. *Though not involved, Locke is mentioned in Murky Station of the Hardcore Henry heists, thus Beneath the Mountain and Birth of Sky take place before Jimmy was introduced to the PAYDAY gang. **However, the official Story Line contradicts this, placing Jimmy's introduction before Locke's, making Bain's opening statement in said heist nonsensical. **In the Heat Street remake, Locke is more directly involved for tipping off the PAYDAY crew to Matt's intentions and assisting them in extracting him to safety away from the police. *Locke has never been seen outside of his Murkywater fatigues even in relaxing times (and when the weather is uncomfortable), leading to some heisters joking that he wears his outfit 24/7. Images Locke FBI.jpg File:Locke_Model.png 20181102124842_1.jpg|Locke's live portrayal in "The End" video Video Payday 2 - Birth of Sky Voice Lines (Locke)|Quotes of Locke during in Birth of Sky and Beneath the Mountain. Payday 2 - Crime net Hack Message (MurkyWater) References Category:Characters (Payday 2) Category:Contractors